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Over the past few weeks, I’ve been driving home the little-noticed story about MoveOn.org bullying mom-and-pop Internet shop owners who criticized the General Petraeus ads. Remember how they got them to yank their anti-MoveOn merchandise? By abusing trademark law.

Well, it looks like they may be at it again. Possibly with Google’s help. Robert Cox reports for the Examiner:

Internet giant Google has banned advertisements critical of MoveOn.org, the far-left advocacy group that caused a national uproar last month when it received preferential treatment from The New York Times for its “General Betray Us” message.

The ads banned by Google were placed by a firm working for Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ re-election campaign. Collins is seeking her third term.

Earlier this week, Google told Lance Dutson, president of Maine Coast Designs, that the ads he placed for Collins had been removed and would not be allowed to resume because they violated Google’s trademark policy.

Google’s Web site states, “Google takes allegations of trademark infringement very seriously and, as a courtesy, we’re happy to investigate matters raised by trademark owners.” That suggests Google acted in response to a complaint by MoveOn.org.